Sideways Sammy

Coventry City have broken their transfer record to bring USA international striker, Haji Wright, to the club. In a summer in which the club also spent significantly on another striker, Ellis Simms, it seems an especially bold move. Haji Wright is a striker approaching his peak years and arrives at the Sky Blues having established himself as one of the leading goalscorers in the Turkish Super Lig, with a record of around a goal every other game while at Antalyaspor. Just how that translates to English football remains to be seen, but the fee paid would indicate that the club are very confident that Wright is worth the investment.

A big, physical centre-forward who is better carrying the ball the ball than he is in the air, there are obvious comparisons to be drawn between Haji Wright and Viktor Gyokeres. Wright can look pretty ungainly in terms of his running style, but he showed in Turkey that his physicality and work-rate can make him a consistent enough presence in the final third to be a big danger on goal. As someone who has played predominantly as a lone centre-forward for much of his career, one of the key questions is whether Wright could function in a partnership with Ellis Simms, but Wright is someone who can play an unselfish role in attack, which could be a huge benefit to Simms and would give Coventry City a significant physical presence in attack that could be too much for opposing defences to handle if the duo click.

If nothing else, the signing of Haji Wright is a massive curveball thrown by the recruitment team heading into the new season. There looked to be two certainties about this season for the Sky Blues, the first was that it would be a rebuilding season where a promotion push wasn’t necessarily a priority, the second was that the team would likely be built around Ellis Simms in attack. The signing of Haji Wright, for the level of fee being reportedly paid, completely breaks apart those two certainties. Wright is a signing for the here and now, expected to be a star player in a team pushing for at least the top six. Whether the player is of the requisite quality to justify that billing will only become apparent once he starts playing. For a club like Coventry City, this is a transfer that simply has to be a successful one.